Spit-attack priest calls for hate-crime honesty
THE priest at the centre of a sectarian attack outside his church has said a court ruling does not go far enough to address the problems facing Glasgow.
Canon Tom White was spat on outside St Alphonsus Church in London Road during an Orange Walk last year.
A 24-year-old man was arrested for the assault through a DNA sample taken from the back of the vestment worn by the priest.
Speaking after Bradley Wallace, 24, from Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court, where he pled guilty to the July 7 assault, Canon White said the proceedings fail to “represent the totality of the crime”.
He added: “There was definitely more than one person that spat on me. While one person is taking
responsibility for their part in it, it doesn’t go far enough to address the bigger debate that needs to happen.
“Just using a label like sectarianism doesn’t help in these instances – these crimes are specific and a blanket term of sectarianism does not identify it for what it was.
“We need to be more honest about the nature of the crimes. It was specifically an anti-catholic crime and a hate crime.”
Police officers had been guarding St Alphonsus Church as a splinter group from the parade passed.
As a large-scale disturbance broke out nearby, police were directed away from the church when the incident took place. Wallace was not part of the parade or a member of the Orange Order but was described as a member of the public who had been associating themselves with the parade.
The priest is now calling for more action to be taken by police to protect residents who may be affected by events in a similar vein.
He added: “Those responsible for policing these marches need to take full responsibility for them.
“I think it’s time that those responsible begin to have a meaningful reflection.
“There’s lots of things to be looked at. It was a very unpleasant chapter and there are elements of these parades that need to be looked at and considered.
“My personal and pastoral priorities are as such that I don’t have time to go on some kind of crusade. I don’t have the appetite for it – it’s not my job.
“There are others who are office bearers in the city who need to take stock of this.
“I want to get back to working in this community.”
Following the incident, the clergyman said he received an outpouring of support and sympathy that was not “confined to the Catholic community”.
He said: “It’s not just me who has been impacted, there will be people from the Orange Order who would have felt that this young man did them a disservice as well because of the damage.”
Wallace, represented by John Coogan, had his bail continued by the sheriff until he is sentenced next month. Sheriff Andrew Cubie told him: “I want you to be under no illusion at all: spitting is disgusting and cowardly and this was done in the context of a sectarian atmosphere which is an embarrassment to the west of Scotland.”